“font-family: Verdana;”>Plenty of entertainment historians, established icons and rising stars in the funny business will concur that urban comedy can essentially be traced back to one source – hometown hero Redd Foxx.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>At this very moment there is a comedian working material that mimics the cadence, subject matter and vulgarity that Foxx introduced and mastered – better yet, pioneered – more than six decades before.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>It all began with St. Louis-born Jon Sanford, a.k.a. Redd Foxx. But as an artist his legacy is much more than reciting strategically placed profanity and the describing of sexual encounters and/or mishaps. Foxx used his utterly blue subject matter to create the multi-platform franchise – television sitcom, recorded show, live tour – that remains industry standard for the most successful comedians – black, white, blue or otherwise.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Now with Black and Blue, television journalist and celebrity biographer Michael Seth Starr attempts to give readers a full-spectrum account of Foxx’s career and life. “Comprehensive” would be an understatement as Starr uses archived features and interviews to narrate Foxx’s unpredictable path to comic legend.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Starr starts with the end: Foxx’s tragic passing on the set of The Royal Family, the intended vehicle to restore him to glory as a star and alleviate the very public tax troubles he experienced in the last years of his life.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Then he jumps back to Foxx’s introduction to the world as Jon Elroy Sanford on December 9, 1922. A tumultuous childhood and fractured family set the tone for Foxx and his wayward travels as a struggling, marginally talented singer and petty criminal to “Chitlin Circuit” emcee which offered entrance to the field that made him famous.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The book is packed with historical accounts and information, but isn’t as entertaining as one might hope for a comedian’s biography. Starr opts for history over humor. Even quotes and anecdotes served up by Foxx from countless sources lose their impact because of how they are inserted into Starr’s chronological account.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The upside to Black and Blue is that fans get deep inside the man behind the humor: the whirlwind marriages, the careless spending, the bad decisions, the disconnect with his family, the compassion and loyalty he showed to lifelong friends. The local reader will appreciate that Starr constantly reminds readers of Foxx’s St. Louis roots.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>In some cases, Black and Blue serves reader information overload, such as Starr’s description of chitterlings and their role in African-American culture as part of his breakdown of the “Chitlin Circuit.” But Foxx’s impact on the world of comedy and the broader spectrum of entertainment is made apparent.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Despite the shortcomings of Black and Blue, readers will be inspired as a pitiful singer whose voice was quoted as being “serviceable at best” rose through the ranks, plummeted from the sitcom mountaintop and was working diligently towards a comeback through The Royal Family up until the moment of his untimely death.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>It was in the footsteps of Foxx that Richard Pryor, Flip Wilson, Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock, Chris Tucker, squeaky-clean Bill Cosby, fellow St. Louisan Cedric The Entertainer and others were able to create one of the most formidable – and profitable – forces in black entertainment.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>And with white comedians like Tim Allen, Ray Romano, Jerry Seinfeld, Jeff Foxworthy and others building brands that bore a striking resemble to Foxx during his Sanford and Son days, it is obvious that his influence stretched beyond blackness and the blue humor that gave birth to a new genre.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Black and Blue: The Redd Foxx Story is currently in bookstores and available online at
